California Senate Bill 501 (SB 501), authored by Sen. Benjamin Allen, passed the Assembly 62-14 on Aug. 24 and the Senate on Aug. 31, awaiting Governor Gavin Newsom's signature. ^[1] A peer-reviewed study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology found that 1,222 of more than 15,000 chemicals that come in contact with food pose serious health risks such as cancer and reproductive harm, while 87% (over 13,200) lack enough accessible information to estimate their risks. ^[2] SB 501 eliminates weight-based exclusions for large primary and rechargeable batteries under the Responsible Battery Recycling Act of 2022, sorting all covered batteries into 'small format' and 'medium format' categories based on weight and watt-hour rating. ^[3] Jane Muncke, co-author of the study and managing director of the Food Packaging Forum Foundation, said the lack of publicly available information for independent scientists to assess chemical safety is 'the elephant in the room,' and that consumers trust regulators to have safety-tested chemicals but that is not the case. ^[4] The study ranked 1,222 hazardous chemicals into four tiers, placing 94 chemicals known to leach into food and detected in breast milk, blood, or other human samples in Tier 1, including PFAS, styrene, phthalates, and bisphenol A. ^[5] The amended bill requires stewardship organizations to demonstrate adequate financial controls and undergo audits following US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) codification. ^[6] The medium-format tier is aimed at batteries used in e-bikes, outdoor lawn equipment, and portable power systems, requiring stewardship plans to detail collection-site coverage for each category separately. ^[7] Experts from the Food Packaging Forum recommended regulators introduce a 'mixture allocation factor' to account for combined effects of multiple chemicals, regulate chemicals in groups as the EU did with PFAS in 2023, modify material safety rules, and determine if inert materials like glass or stainless steel leach into food. ^[8]